Ngedup, Lyonpo Sangay (b. July 1, 1953), prime minister of Bhutan (1999-2000, 2005-06). He is the brother of the four consorts of Jigme Singye Wangchuk. He was also minister of health and education (1998-2003) and agriculture (2003-07).

Nghimtina, Erkki (b. Sept. 16, 1948, Eembidi, Ohangwena region, South West Africa [now Namibia]), defense minister of Namibia (1997-2005). He has also been minister of mines and energy (2005-10), works and transport (2010-15), and labour, industrial relations, and employment creation (2015- ).

Ngige, Chris (Nwabueze) (b. 1952), governor of Anambra (2003-06).

Ngiraked, John O(lbedabel) (b. April 25, 1932, Ngiwal, Palau - d. Aug. 13, 2003), minister of state of Palau (1985-88). He was a presidential candidate in 1980 and 1988. Along with his wife Emerita Kerradel, he was arrested in 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993 for masterminding the assassination of Pres. Haruo Remeliik in 1985.

Ngo Dinh Diem

Ngo Dinh Diem, (Jean-Baptiste) (b. Jan. 3, 1901, Quang Binh province, northern Vietnam - d. Nov. 2, 1963, Cho Lon, South Vietnam [now part of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam]), president of South Vietnam (1955-63). In 1933 he was named the emperor Bao Dai's minister of the interior, but found himself in conflict with the French colonial authorities and resigned the same year. In 1945 Communist leader Ho Chi Minh invited him to join his independent government in the North, but he rejected the proposal. After living abroad for several years, he returned in 1954 at Bao Dai's request to serve as prime minister of non-Communist South Vietnam. He effectively ousted Bao Dai as chief of state in April 1955 and was confirmed in a government-controlled referendum in October, becoming president of the newly declared Republic of Vietnam. He refused to act on the Geneva Accords providing for consultations with the Communist government to be followed by free elections throughout Vietnam in 1956 to establish a national government. With U.S. military and economic aid, he established an autocratic regime staffed at the highest levels by family members, in particular his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu. Hundreds of thousands of refugees from North Vietnam were resettled in the south and economic progress made, but he failed to fulfill his promise of land reforms, and Communist influence grew as the National Liberation Front, or Viet Cong, launched an increasingly intense guerrilla war against his government. His use of heavy-handed military tactics against the insurgency only served to deepen his unpopularity. As a Roman Catholic he also was accused of oppressing the Buddhist majority. The United States finally withdrew its support from him, and he was assassinated during a military coup.

Ngoubeyou, François Xavier (b. May 10, 1937, Nkongsamba, French Cameroons [now in Cameroon]), foreign minister of Cameroon (2001-04). He was also minister of youth and sports (1971-72) and ambassador to Switzerland (1985-2001).

Nguyen Cao Ky (b. Sept. 8, 1930, Son Tay province [now in Ha Tay province], northern Vietnam - d. July 23, 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), prime minister (1965-67) and vice president (1967-71) of South Vietnam. He took aviation courses in France and the U.S. and served in the French colonial forces that opposed the Vietnamese liberation movement. After the nation was partitioned in 1954, he joined the South Vietnamese air force, attracting much attention because of his vehement anti-Communism as well as his bravado. He was highly favoured by U.S. advisers in Vietnam, but under Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem his flashy ways incurred disapproval and he was assigned to insignificant commands. After that government was overthrown in 1963, he rose quickly in responsibility and soon was named commander of the air force; he assumed the rank of air vice marshal. In January 1965, as one of four military leaders invited to join the government, he was named minister of youth and sports, but he balked at accepting the post. In June 1965, together with Maj.Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu and Gen. Duong Van Minh, he led a military coup that unseated the government of Prime Minister Phan Huy Quat. As prime minister, he provoked widespread opposition to his authoritarian policies, especially among Buddhists. In 1967 he announced he would run for the presidency, but then reached an agreement with the other top military leaders by which Thieu ran for president and he for vice president. The ticket won with about 35% of the vote. Unhappy with his new position, he became an outspoken critic of Thieu. In 1971 he attempted to oppose Thieu for the presidency but withdrew because of what he called Thieu's designs to rig the election. Upon the fall of South Vietnam in April 1975, he fled to the United States; he became a U.S. citizen in 2003. He returned to Vietnam for the first time in January 2004.

Nguyen Co Thach

Nguyen Co Thach (b. May 15, 1921, Vu Ban, Nam Dinh province, Vietnam - d. April 10, 1998, Hanoi, Vietnam), foreign minister of Vietnam (1980-91). He joined the Viet Minh - Communist-led guerrillas - in 1937 to fight French colonial rule. His activities landed him in jail in the early 1940s. After release, he steadily rose through the Viet Minh ranks. He was a lieutenant colonel at the siege of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 that crushed French forces and effectively ended French rule in Indochina. A career diplomat, he gained prominence as a member of Vietnam's negotiating team during the Paris peace talks, which led to a U.S. agreement to pull troops out of South Vietnam in 1973. He was an aide to Le Duc Tho, the chief negotiator at the protracted talks. The war ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975. But he failed in his mission of establishing diplomatic relations with the United States. As early as 1978, three years after the end of the Vietnam War, he met with U.S. officials in New York to discuss normalization of ties, hoping to reduce dependence on the Soviet Union. U.S. mortification over its defeat and Hanoi's demands for war reparations got in the way of early postwar talks about establishing ties. He was foreign minister at a time when Vietnam was trying to break free from international isolation that followed the country's occupation of Cambodia. He traveled to New York in 1990 to meet Secretary of State James Baker, the highest-level bilateral contact since 1973. But the United States still withheld diplomatic relations. His star began to fade after he failed to warn fellow leaders of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and to prepare Vietnam for an abrupt cut in Soviet aid. He was pushed from office at a Communist Party congress in 1991.

Nguyen Khanh (b. Nov. 8, 1927, Tra Vinh, southern Vietnam - d. Jan. 11, 2013, San Jose, Calif.), president and prime minister of South Vietnam (1964). He served in the French colonial army and took advanced military training both in France and in the United States. In independent South Vietnam he at first served loyally under Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem and became chief of staff to Gen. Duong Van Minh in 1955. He became a general in 1960. His units had great success against Viet Cong guerrillas in the Mekong delta, although he was occasionally criticized for sudden, driving military operations that were not cleared in advance with area commanders. He helped foil a coup against Ngo in 1960, but when Ngo sent the army to quell dissident religious sects, Nguyen joined Duong and other high military officials in assassinating Ngo on Nov. 1, 1963, and then led a counter-coup against Duong in January 1964. In a very unstable period marked by several coup attempts, he held the presidency until February and again briefly in August and was prime minister in February-August and September-November. Thereafter he remained commander of the armed forces. In January 1965 he was involved in another coup, overthrowing Prime Minister Tran Van Huong, and then wielded actual power, without taking a political post. In February, however, he lost the backing of other military leaders and was replaced as armed forces commander and sent abroad as roving ambassador. In August he was recalled, but he remained in exile, settling in Paris in 1968, then moving to the United States in 1977. In 2005 he was elected as president of an exile "Government of Free Vietnam."

Nguyen Minh Triet (b. Oct. 8, 1942, Ben Cat district, Song Be province, South Vietnam [now in Binh Duong province, Vietnam]), president of Vietnam (2006-11). He participated in revolutionary activities in South Vietnam between 1960 and 1970 and held the posts of secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union in 1975-87 and deputy secretary and then secretary of the Communist Party committee of southern Song Be province in 1988-96. He became deputy secretary of the party committee of Ho Chi Minh City in 1997, and secretary of the committee in 2000. He has been a member of the Political Bureau since 1998. In 1998-99, he acted as chairman of the party's Commission for Mass Mobilization.

N. Phu Trong

Nguyen Phu Trong (b. April 14, 1944, Hanoi, Vietnam), general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (2011- ). He was chairman of the National Assembly in 2006-11.

Nguyen Tan Dung (b. Nov. 17, 1949, Ca Mau province, South Vietnam [now in Vietnam]), prime minister of Vietnam (2006- ). He became deputy prime minister in 1997, and governor of the State Bank of Vietnam in 1998. He has been a member of the Communist Party's Political Bureau since 1996.

Nguyen Thi Binh, original name Nguyen Chau Sa (b. May 26, 1927, Quang Nam province, Vietnam), foreign minister of South Vietnam (1975-76). She was also education minister (1976-87) and vice president (1992-2002) of Vietnam.

Nguyen Van Linh, original name Nguyen Van Cuc (b. July 1, 1915, Giai Pham commune, My Van district, Hung Yen province, northern Vietnam - d. April 27, 1998, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), Vietnamese politician. He joined the fight against French colonial rule in 1929 and was sentenced to life imprisonment for subversion in 1930. He was freed in an amnesty in 1936, joined the Indochinese Communist Party and resumed his anti-French efforts, but was incarcerated again in 1941-45, again being held on the notorious prison island of Poulo Condore (Con Son). After Vietnam's proclamation of independence in 1945 Linh moved up through the ranks of the communist party and after the division of the country following the French withdrawal (1954), he became an underground leader in South Vietnam. By 1960 he was selected to serve on the party central committee as secretary of the region that covered South Vietnam. He was known by so many aliases that it was not until the mid-1970s that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency realized that four important cadres were one and the same. With the defeat of the U.S.-backed regime in the south, he became party chief in Saigon. At the 4th National Party Congress in December 1976, he joined the Politburo; in 1982 he was inexplicably dropped, but he made a triumphant comeback in 1985 and consolidated his position in the months before and after General Secretary Le Duan's death in July 1986. On Dec. 18, 1986, he was installed as general secretary by the sixth congress of the Communist Party. He immediately took pragmatic measures to reform Vietnam's fossilized economy. His relationship with top party peers was sometimes uneasy as his views clashed with those that wanted accelerated reform. By the end of his five-year tenure as party chief he had fallen from favour and he was replaced at a party congress in 1991.

Nguyen Van Thieu (b. November 19241, Tri Thuy, Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam - d. Sept. 29, 2001, Boston, Mass.), president of South Vietnam (1967-75). He joined the Viet Minh in 1945 but left it in 1946 because of its Communist orientation and later fought for the French colonial regime against the Viet Minh. In 1954-58 he was head of the Vietnamese National Military Academy. By 1960 he had risen in rank to colonel. He played an important part in the coup against Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. In 1965 he became chief of state in a military government headed by Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky. In 1967 he was elected president under a new constitution, and he was reelected without opposition in 1971. He ruled during the period of major U.S. intervention in the war against the Viet Cong insurgents and North Vietnam. But even with the assistance of 500,000 U.S. troops and massive amounts of military aid, he was never able to turn the tide against the Communists. He was a reluctant participant in the peace agreements of 1973 which provided for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Vietnam and led to increased military pressure from the Communist forces. In March 1975 he recalled troops from northern and central provinces of South Vietnam to defend the capital, Saigon, but the retreat turned into a rout. The capital was soon surrounded. After resisting for several days, he resigned on April 21 in favour of his vice president, Tran Van Huong, in a last-ditch attempt to reach a negotiated settlement of the war; he denounced the U.S. for breaking a promise to help Saigon if the Communists violated the 1973 accords. A few days later he left the country, going first to Taiwan, a few months later to England, and in 1989 to the U.S.1 In accordance with a frequently used Vietnamese custom, he took another date - April 5, 1923 - as his official birthday, on grounds that it was better luck.

Nguza Karl-I-Bond, (Jean-de-Dieu) (b. Aug. 4, 1938, Musumba, Katanga province, Belgian Congo [now Congo (Kinshasa)] - d. July 27, 2003, Kinshasa), foreign minister (1972-74, 1976-77, 1979-80, 1988-90) and prime minister (1980-81, 1991-92) of Zaire; nephew of Moise Tshombe. In September 1977 he was sentenced to death for treason in connection with the March invasion of Shaba province, but Pres. Mobutu Sese Seko commuted the sentence to life imprisonment; he was released in 1978 and rejoined the government in 1979. He resigned in 1981 to join the exile opposition to Mobutu in Belgium, but returned to Zaire in June 1985 under another presidential amnesty and was ambassador to the United States in 1986-88.

Nhamadjo

Nhamadjo, Manuel Serifo (b. March 25, 1958), transitional president of Guinea-Bissau (2012-14). He was acting president of the National People's Assembly in 2009 and 2012 and a presidential candidate in 2012.

Nhassé, Alamara (Ntchia) (b. June 2, 1957), prime minister of Guinea-Bissau (2001-02). He was also minister of agriculture (2000-01) and interior (2001).

Nhek Bun Chhay (b. Feb. 7, 1956), acting head of state of Cambodia (2004). He has been second vice president of the Senate (1999-2004), deputy prime minister (2004- ), and co-defense minister (2004-06).

Ni Sichong (b. 1868, Fuyang, Anhui, China - d. July 12, 1924), civil governor of Henan (1911-12) and military governor (1913-16, 1917-20) and civil governor (1913-14, 1916-17) of Anhui. He was civil governor of Heilongjiang and Henan provinces during the last days of the Qing dynasty. He maintained his post in Henan after the revolution. In 1913, Pres. Yuan Shikai ordered him to lead his army to Anhui province. He was made governor after defeating the Kuomintang forces led by Bai Wenwei. He supported Yuan Shikai's imperial claim and was honoured as "first duke." After Yuan's death, he supported Duan Qirui and was made inspector of the armies along the Yangtze River. He stepped down upon the fall of the Anhui Military Group in the civil war in 1920.

Niazi, Amir Abdullah Khan (b. 1915, Balo-Khel village, near Mianwali, Punjab, India [now in Pakistan] - d. Feb. 1, 2004, Lahore, Pakistan), martial law administrator of East Pakistan (1971). He served as a junior officer during World War II, and later held various command positions in Pakistan's army after the country won independence from Britain in 1947. As the chief of Pakistan army's command in 1971 in what was then called East Pakistan, Niazi and his forces fought against Bangladeshi separatists and Indian forces in a bloody war and later surrendered. The defeat is still considered by many Pakistanis to be a national humiliation. General Niazi was blamed for the defeat and was removed from the army in 1975.

Niehaus Quesada, Bernd H. (b. April 14, 1941, San José, Costa Rica), foreign minister of Costa Rica (1980-82, 1990-94). He was also permanent representative to the United Nations (1998-2002) and ambassador to Germany (2002-10).

Nielsen

Nielsen, Holger K(irkholm) (b. April 23, 1950, Ribe, Denmark), foreign minister of Denmark (2013-14). He was leader of the Socialist People's Party (1991-2005) and minister of taxation (2012-13).

Niinistö, Sauli (Väinämö) (b. Aug. 24, 1948, Salo, Finland), justice minister (1995-96), finance minister (1996-2003), and president (2012- ) of Finland. He rose from near obscurity to become leader of the Conservatives in 1994. He cut a businesslike, demanding, and hard-working figure, but some saw him as humourless, unfeeling, and vague. During the 1999 election campaign Niinistö appeared statesmanlike, standing above the jibes traded by Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen and Centre Party leader Esko Aho. He was as determined as Lipponen to anchor Finland in the European mainstream, but lacked the prime minister's passion for playing European politics. He was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2006. In 2007-11 he was speaker of parliament.

Nikezic, Marko (b. June 13, 1921, Belgrade, Yugoslavia [now in Serbia] - d. Jan. 6, 1991, Belgrade), foreign minister of Yugoslavia (1965-68) and chairman of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia (1968-72). He was also Yugoslav ambassador to Egypt (1953-56), Czechoslovakia (1956-58), and the United States (1958-62).

Nikolay II (English Nicholas II), in full Nikolay Aleksandrovich (b. May 18 [May 6, Old Style], 1868, Tsarskoye Selo [now Pushkin], near St. Petersburg, Russia - d. July 16/17, 1918, Yekaterinburg, Russia), emperor of Russia (1894-1917). He was the eldest son of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (emperor as Aleksandr III from 1881) and his consort Maria Fyodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark). Succeeding his father on Nov. 1, 1894, he was crowned in Moscow on May 26, 1896. His wife, Aleksandra (Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt), whom he had married on Nov. 26, 1894, possessed the firmness of character he lacked. Her mystical outlook made her turn to spiritualists and faith healers, notably Grigory Rasputin, who acquired great power over the imperial couple. Nikolay attempted to strengthen Russian influence in Korea, refusing to believe that Japan would go to war in order to preserve its sphere of influence. The defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) not only frustrated his grandiose dreams of making Russia the dominant Eurasian power, but also contributed to discontent at home, which grew into the revolutionary movement of 1905. Reluctantly, he agreed to create a national representative assembly, or Duma, and by the manifesto of Oct. 30, 1905, promised a constitutional regime. But he dissolved the first two Dumas as "insubordinate" and then imposed a new electoral law which resulted in a compliant Third Duma. The outbreak of World War I (1914) strengthened the monarchy only temporarily. In 1915 he assumed supreme command himself and left domestic affairs in effect to the empress and Rasputin. After riots broke out in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) in March 1917, his government collapsed and he renounced his throne. He was imprisoned and, during the civil war, he and his wife and children were executed by the Bolsheviks to prevent a rescue by "White" forces.

Nikolayev, Mikhail (Yefimovich) (b. Nov. 13, 1937), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1989-90), chairman of the Supreme Council (1990-91), president (1991-2002), and prime minister (1992-93) of Sakha.

Nimeiry, Gaafar (Mohamed el-), Nimeiry also spelled Nimeiri, Arabic Ja`far Muhammad al-Numayri (b. Jan. 1, 1930, Wad Nubawi, Omdurman, Sudan - d. May 30, 2009), president of The Sudan (1971-85). He graduated from the Sudan Military College at Khartoum as a lieutenant in 1952, then acted as commander of the Khartoum garrison and led campaigns against rebels in southern Sudan. On May 25, 1969, he overthrew the civilian regime of Ismail al-Azhari. He was promoted to major general and became prime minister and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. He put down a right-wing revolt led by Sadiq al-Mahdi in March 1970. At first his regime was oriented to the Soviet bloc, but his policies changed after an abortive Communist coup in July 1971. He then entered into a close alliance with Egypt and the U.S. and resumed the traditional ties with Britain. In September 1971 he was elected president in a plebiscite with 98.6% of the vote and he had his mandate renewed in 1977 and 1983. In 1972 he established the Sudanese Socialist Union, of which he became president. He was credited with bringing about negotiations that led to a settlement of a 10-year conflict in the southern Sudan, which he granted autonomy as a united region in 1972. As president of the Organization of African Unity in 1978-79, he reasserted his position that Africa should keep free from entanglements of "alignment" with external powers. He became increasingly drawn to Muslim fundamentalism and in 1983 declared Sudan to be an Islamic republic; parts of the (predominantly Christian) south were again in revolt. In 1985, while he was abroad, a group of army officers staged a bloodless coup. Returning from his Egyptian exile in 1999, he formed the People's Working Forces Alliance and was its presidential candidate in 2000.

Nimrod, Elvin (G.) (b. Aug. 27, 1943), foreign minister of Grenada (2000-08). He entered the political arena when he became a member of the Senate in 1997. In January 1999 he was elected to parliament for the constituency of Carriacou and Petit Martinique on a New National Party ticket. He was first appointed as minister of legal affairs, labour, local government, and Carriacou and Petit Martinique affairs and, while keeping some of those portfolios, was given the additional ones of foreign affairs in August 2000 and of international trade in 2001.

Nishanov, Rafik (Nishanovich) (b. 1926), foreign minister (1985-86), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1986-88), and first secretary of the Communist Party (1988-89) of the Uzbek S.S.R. He was also Soviet ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives (1970-78) and Jordan (1978-85) and chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities (1989-91).

Nissage-Saget, (Jean Nicolas) (b. Sept. 20, 1810, Saint-Marc, Haiti - d. April 7, 1880, Saint-Marc), president of the Provisional Government of Haiti (1867), provisional president of the Republic of the North (1868-69), and president of Haiti (1869-74).

Nixon, Richard M(ilhous) (b. Jan. 9, 1913, Yorba Linda, Calif. - d. April 22, 1994, New York City), president of the United States (1969-74). The conservative Republican was twice elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1946, 1948), and in 1950 he was elected to the Senate. His reputation as an anticommunist made him a desirable running mate for Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 campaign. Nixon served two terms as vice president under Eisenhower. In 1960 he became the Republican presidential candidate but narrowly lost to Democrat John F. Kennedy. Two years later he lost a bid to unseat Democrat Edmund G. Brown as governor of California. With the Vietnam War raging, he made capital of his foreign affairs expertise and was proclaimed the 1968 Republican presidential candidate; he narrowly defeated Democratic challenger Hubert H. Humphrey. In foreign policy, his most significant action may have been the reopening of direct communications with the People's Republic of China. In February 1972 he paid a state visit to China. This rapprochement in East Asia gave Nixon a stronger position during his visit to Moscow in May - the first by a U.S. president. Renominated in 1972, he defeated his Democratic opponent, Sen. George S. McGovern, in one of the largest landslide victories in U.S. presidential history. His second term began with the effective ending of U.S. participation in the Vietnam War in January 1973. In the Watergate scandal, his administration was criminally involved in an incident of burglary and wiretapping at the Democratic Party's national headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Faced with almost certain impeachment and removal from office, he became the first U.S. president to resign (Aug. 9, 1974). He was granted a blanket pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford.

Niyazov, Amin (Irmatovich) (b. 1903, Ak-Tepe, Russia [now in Uzbekistan] - d. 1973), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1947-50) and first secretary of the Communist Party (1950-55) of the Uzbek S.S.R. He was also people's commissar of finance (1941-46) and minister of public utilities (1956-57).

S. Niyazov

Niyazov, Saparmurat (Atayevich) (Turkmen Saparmyrat Nyýazow), byname Turkmenbashi (Türkmenbasy) (b. Feb. 19, 1940, Kipchak village, near Ashkhabad, Turkmen S.S.R. - d. Dec. 21, 2006), president of Turkmenistan (1990-2006). He was named head of the Ashkhabad city Communist Party committee in 1980 and became the party boss of the Turkmen S.S.R. in 1985. But little of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost or perestroika appeared to have rubbed off on the apparatchik who became chairman of the republic's Supreme Soviet in January 1990 and was unopposed in presidential elections in October, winning 98.3% of the vote. After independence, he was reelected in 1992 with 99.5% of the vote. In 1993 he adopted the name Turkmenbashi ("leader of the Turkmens"). A referendum in 1994 extended his term in office to 2002, this time with 99.9% of the vote, and in 1999 he was declared president for life. A growing personality cult made sure Turkmens did not forget who their leader was. The exhortation "May my tongue shrivel up and my bones turn to ashes if I betray my country or my president" was broadcast throughout the day on state television. His chubby face graced everything from yoghurt pots to bottles of perfume. The Neutrality Arch (completed in late 1998), a 75-m syringe-like structure on three legs under which traffic passes, towers over the capital. Above it stands a 12-m revolving statue of Niyazov, arms outstretched as if to embrace his subjects from the lofty perch. He rotates once every 24 hours, tracking the path of the sun from dawn to dusk. Behind him is a huge gold flag blowing in the wind. Its cape-like appearance won the multimillion-dollar construction the nickname "Batman's Tower." Niyazov established a national ideology based on his book Rukhnama, published in 2001.

M. Njie

Njie, Mambury (b. June 27, 1962), finance minister (2011-12) and foreign minister (2012) of The Gambia. He was also ambassador to Taiwan and the Philippines (1997-2001) and the United Arab Emirates (2007-09) and minister of economic planning and industrial development (2010-11).

Nkoana-Mashabane, Maite (Emily) (b. Sept. 30, 1963, Ga-Makanye village [now in Limpopo province], South Africa), international relations minister of South Africa (2009- ). She was high commissioner to Malaysia (1995-99; also accredited to the Philippines and Brunei) and India (1999-2005; also accredited to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Nepal).

Nkomo, John (Landa) (b. Aug. 22, 1934, Nyamandlovu, Southern Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe] - d. Jan. 17, 2013, Harare, Zimbabwe), home affairs minister (2000-02), speaker of parliament (2005-08), and second vice president (2009-13) of Zimbabwe. He was also minister of labour, manpower planning, and social welfare (1988-95), local government and rural development (1995-97), and local government and national housing (1997-2000).

Joshua Nkomo

Nkomo, Joshua (Mqabuko Nyongolo) (b. June 19, 1917, Semokwe Reserve, Matabeleland, Southern Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe] - d. July 1, 1999, Harare, Zimbabwe), Zimbabwean politician. In 1957 he was elected president of the African National Congress (ANC), the leading black nationalist organization in Rhodesia. In 1959 the ANC was banned and he went to England. In 1960 he returned and became president of the National Democratic Party (NDP); in 1961, when the NDP was banned in turn, he founded the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), which was banned in 1962. He was held in detention from 1964 to 1974. Thereafter he attempted to negotiate black freedoms with Prime Minister Ian Smith but then left Rhodesia to seek international support for his cause. He helped lead the guerrilla war against white rule in Rhodesia, but he was essentially a diplomat and preferred negotiation to fighting. His forces played a relatively minor role compared with those of Robert Mugabe, who headed the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). After the end of white rule and the establishment of black-ruled Zimbabwe (1980), Nkomo's ZAPU, whose base of support was the minority Ndebele people, was increasingly eclipsed by Mugabe's ZANU, based on the Shona majority. ZANU resoundingly defeated ZAPU in the first parliamentary elections, but Nkomo was named home affairs minister in a coalition government. Strain quickly arose between ZANU and ZAPU, and overt ethnic strife broke out between the Shona and Ndebele after Mugabe dismissed Nkomo in 1982 for allegedly plotting a coup; Nkomo denied direct links with the rebels. Finally, in 1987, the two leaders agreed to merge their respective parties in order to try to achieve ethnic unity in the country. In 1990 Nkomo became a vice president, a post with limited power which he held until his death.

Nkrumah

Nkrumah, Kwame, original name (until 1945) Francis Nwia Kofi Ngonloma (b. Sept. 21, 1909, Nkroful, Gold Coast [now Ghana] - d. April 27, 1972, Bucharest, Romania), prime minister (1957-60) and president (1960-66) of Ghana. He became general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in December 1947, but a split developed and in June 1949 he formed the more radical Convention People's Party (CPP). After initiating a campaign of protests, strikes, and noncooperation with the British colonial authorities in January 1950, he was arrested and sentenced to one year's imprisonment. But when the CPP won the Gold Coast's first general election (Feb. 8, 1951) he was released from prison to become leader of government business and, in 1952, prime minister of the Gold Coast. When the Gold Coast and British Togoland became independent Ghana in 1957, he became the new nation's first prime minister. In 1960 Ghana was made a republic and he became president, with wide legislative and executive powers. His style of government was authoritarian; opponents were jailed without trial. Much of his attention was devoted to campaigning for pan-African unity. After surviving an assassination attempt in August 1962 (the first of several) he increasingly burrowed himself in Flagstaff House, his official residence, which he converted into a fortress, while simultaneously his personality cult mushroomed; he used the title Osagyefo ("redeemer" or "victorious leader"). In 1964 Ghana was designated a one-party state with him as life president of both nation and party. Meanwhile, the economy was in crisis and a huge foreign debt was run up. In 1966, while he was visiting China, the army and police in Ghana seized power. Returning to West Africa, he found asylum in Guinea.

Nkuriyingoma, Egide (b. July 18, 1946), foreign minister of Burundi (1986-87). He was also ambassador to the Soviet Union (1979-81), West Germany (1981-85), and Belgium (1985-86).

Nkurunziza

Nkurunziza, Pierre (b. Dec. 18, 1964, Mwumba, Ngozi province, Burundi), president of Burundi (2005- ). His father, an ex-provincial governor and member of parliament, was killed in Burundi's 1972 ethnic slaughter. He himself narrowly escaped death in 1995 when Tutsi soldiers attacking Hutus at the University of Bujumbura shot at his car and burned it after he fled. Soon after he joined the Hutu rebel group Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) as a soldier and worked his way up the ranks to become its leader in 2001. The FDD joined a transitional government in 2003 after fighting in Burundi's civil war, which pitted insurgents from the Hutu majority against the Tutsi minority which essentially controlled Burundi since 1962 independence from Belgium. Nkurunziza, who was the minister of state under the transitional government, began espousing inclusion and unity for all Burundians regardless of ethnicity. It was on that pledge that the FDD dominated a series of democratic polls in 2005.

Nobbs, Ronald Coane (b. June 10, 1938, Norfolk Island), chief minister of Norfolk Island (2000-01). He served in the former Norfolk Island Advisory Council from 1964 to
1966 and was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1997.

Noboa (Pontón), Álvaro (Fernando) (b. Nov. 21, 1950, Guayaquil, Ecuador), Ecuadorian presidential candidate (1998, 2002, 2006, 2009). In 1998 he was Ecuador's richest man, but campaigned as the candidate of the poor and had the support of the Roldosista party of deposed president Abdalá Bucaram; he lost to Jamil Mahuad in the runoff. In 2002 and 2006 he also qualified for the runoff, but then lost to Lucio Gutiérrez and Rafael Correa, respectively; in 2009 he only came third.

G. Noboa

Noboa (Bejarano), Gustavo (José Joaquín) (b. Aug. 21, 1937, Guayaquil, Ecuador), president of Ecuador (2000-03). His first public post was as governor of Ecuador's resource-rich Guayas province in 1983-84. He became vice president in 1998. It was as a prominent member of the Ecuadorian negotiating team in peace talks with Peru that Noboa gained a lasting place in the public arena. The talks led to a peace deal in October 1998 that ended decades of border skirmishes. Buckling under the strain of the worst economic and social crisis in five decades, thousands of Ecuadorian Indians converged on the high mountain capital of Quito in 2000 and forced the ouster of Pres. Jamil Mahuad. Noboa then assumed the presidency with the blessing of the armed forces and police followed by the backing of Mahuad himself and then Congress, which granted him the mandate to serve the remainder of Mahuad's term, which ended in 2003. He implemented Mahuad's plans to revive the economy by adopting the U.S. dollar as the main currency. Mahuad had claimed this would slash inflation and kick-start the economy with renewed foreign investment. Noboa also vowed to fight corruption, decentralize the government, and push through measures to boost the economy. The task before him was no less than awesome: 60% of Ecuador's 12.4 million people lived in poverty and inflation was the highest in Latin America at 60.7%. He had to rebuild the financial infrastructure of the first country ever to partially default on its Brady bond obligations. After his presidency Noboa came under investigation for allegedly mishandling his country's foreign debt negotiations and costing the country $9 billion. The Dominican Republic granted asylum to Noboa in August 2003. He was cleared of the charges on March 31, 2005, and returned from his exile on April 3.

Nogueira, Alberto (Marciano Gorjão) Franco (b. Sept. 17, 1918, Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal - d. March 14, 1993, Lisbon, Portugal), foreign minister of Portugal (1961-69). He resigned after a disagreement with Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano over policy in Portugal's African colonies. Imprisoned for a short time after the revolution of 1974, he went into exile in London, but later returned.

Noli, Fan, byname of Theofan Stilian Noli (b. Jan. 6, 1882, Ibriktepe, Ottoman Empire [now in Turkey] - d. March 13, 1965, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), prime minister of Albania (1924). In 1908 he was the first ordained priest of the Albanian Orthodox Church. After his premiership he emigrated to America and founded the first Albanian Orthodox community in the United States in Boston where he served as bishop until his death.

Nong Duc Manh (b. Sept. 11, 1940, Cuong Loi village, Na Ri district, Bac Can province, Vietnam), Vietnamese politician. He was born into a family of the Tay ethnic minority. Rumours have long circulated that he was an illegitimate son of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh. Once asked the question by an Australian ambassador, Nong gave a noncommittal answer. He became a member of the Communist Party on July 5, 1963, and a member of the party executive committee for Bac Thai province in July 1977. In September 1980 he became deputy chairman of the Bac Thai Provincial People's Committee. In October 1983 he was appointed its chairman and kept that post for three years; during that time he was also deputy secretary of the provincial party committee. He was elected to secretary of the Bac Thai party committee in late 1986 and then alternate member to the Central Committee of the Communist Party. He became a full member of the Central Committee in March 1989. Between October 1989 and 1991 he was director of its Nationalities Commission. He was elected member of the Political Bureau at the seventh party congress in 1991 and reelected at the eighth congress in 1996. He was elected chairman of the National Assembly in 1992 and reelected in 1997. In 2001 the Communist Party voted to oust General Secretary Le Kha Phieu because of uninspired leadership and replace him with the moderate Nong, the first member of an ethnic minority group to hold the top Communist Party position. He had a reputation for being clean and untainted, and was seen as a relatively weak leader who operates on the basis of consensus decision-making. His selection indicated support for economic reforms in a country that in recent years had been mired in corruption and bureaucracy. However, he acknowledged that these problems still persisted when he retired in 2011.

Noor, Rusli (b. May 1, 1927, Bandung, Netherlands East Indies [now Indonesia]), secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (1989-93). He was also Indonesian ambassador to Denmark and Norway (1974-78) and Belgium (1983-86).

Nordmeyer, Sir Arnold Henry, original name Heinrich Arnold Nordmeyer (b. Feb. 7, 1901, Dunedin, N.Z. - d. Feb. 2, 1989, Wellington, N.Z.), New Zealand politician. He entered parliament for the Labour Party in 1935. He helped draft the Social Security Act 1938, which formed the basis for the nation's modern welfare system, and then headed several ministries, including health (1941-47) and industries and commerce (1947-49). He lost his Oamaru seat in the 1949 election, but was returned for Brooklyn in 1951 and became finance minister in 1957. Seeing a threat to New Zealand trade after the creation of the European Economic Community, he sharply increased taxes on beer, tobacco, petrol, and cars and increased income tax in his 1958 budget. Economists regarded the increases as statesmanlike, but the voters saw the "black budget" as a reversal of the Labour Party's election pledges, and the party was defeated in the 1960 general election. Nordmeyer became party leader in 1963, but was unable to rebuild public support, still being identified with higher taxes for the working man. He was ousted as leader of the opposition in 1965 and retired from politics in 1969. He was knighted (K.C.M.G.) in 1975 and appointed to the Order of New Zealand in February 1987 as a foundation member.

Noriega (Moreno), Manuel (Antonio) (b. Feb. 11, 1936, Panama City, Panama), Panamanian military leader. In the 1960s he was commissioned a sublieutenant in the National Guard and stationed in Colón, where he became acquainted with Capt. Omar Torrijos; he also established ties with U.S. intelligence agencies and attended the notorious School of the Americas. He was instrumental in the military coup of 1968 that brought Torrijos to power, and in 1970 helped crush a coup attempt against Torrijos. For his loyalty, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and named chief of military intelligence. When in 1981 Torrijos died in a plane crash, military and civilian leaders struggled to gain the upper hand. In 1983 Noriega succeeded to the command of the National Guard, unified the armed forces into the Panamanian Defense Forces, promoted himself to the rank of general, and became the real power behind the civilian presidents. Allegations of drug trafficking and intimidation of dissidents piled up, and he declared a "state of urgency" that suspended political and civil rights. Though he was still on the U.S. payroll in the mid-1980s, in 1988 the U.S. turned against him, and when in 1989 an attempted military coup against him failed, the U.S. invaded Panama, chiefly for the purpose of capturing Noriega (which it succeeded in doing on Jan. 3, 1990) and bringing him to trial in the U.S.; in 1992, in a federal court in Miami, he was convicted of cocaine trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, and sentenced to 40 years in jail. He won a reduction of his term in 1999 after arguing that he deserved credit for helping the U.S. pursue its interests in Latin America while he was in power. He was scheduled to be released in September 2007, but France suddenly announced it wanted to try him for allegedly laundering $3 million in drug proceeds through French banks, and he remained in prison pending a final decision on his extradition. In April 2010 he was extradited and in July a French court sentenced him to seven years in jail. In December 2011 he was extradited from France to Panama, where he faced a 20-year prison term for the murders of opponents during his rule.

Norman, Sam(uel) Hinga (b. Jan. 1, 1940, Ngolala village, Bo district, Sierra Leone - d. Feb. 22, 2007, Dakar, Senegal), interior minister of Sierra Leone (2002-04). The leader of the local civil defense militia that helped defeat the rebel Revolutionary United Front during the 1991-2001 civil war, he was indicted in 2003 by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Maintaining his innocence throughout his trial, he died while still in detention at the court.

Norodom Phurissara (b. Oct. 13, 1919, Phnom Penh, Cambodia - d. [presumed killed by Khmer Rouge] c. April 1976, Phnom Penh), foreign minister of Cambodia (1966-70); grandson of King Norodom. He was also minister of justice in the Sihanoukist government (1973-75). He was posthumously given the title Samdech on June 7, 1994.

Norodom R.

Norodom Ranariddh, Prince (b. Jan. 2, 1944, Phnom Penh, Cambodia), co-prime minister (1993) and first prime minister (1993-97) of Cambodia; son of Norodom Sihanouk. He was also president of the National Assembly (1998-2006). From 1993 to 2006 he was leader of the royalist FUNCINPEC party. In November 2006 he became president of the Khmer Front Party.

Norodom Sihamoni

Norodom Sihamoni (b. May 14, 1953, Phnom Penh, Cambodia), king of Cambodia (2004- ). He is a son of King Norodom Sihanouk and his wife Monineath. In 1992, he was chosen unanimously by the members of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia to be permanent representative of Cambodia to the United Nations. On Aug. 30, 1993, he was appointed ambassador of the Kingdom of Cambodia to UNESCO. On Feb. 1, 1994, he was elevated by the king to the rank of Samdech Krom Khun (Great Prince). Following Sihanouk's abdication on Oct. 6, 2004, he was chosen king on October 14 and crowned on October 29.

Norodom Sihanouk

Norodom Sihanouk (b. Oct. 31, 1922, Phnom Penh, Cambodia - d. Oct. 15, 2012, Beijing, China), king of Cambodia (1941-55, 1993-2004). He was, on his mother's side, the grandson of King Monivong, whom he succeeded on the throne at age 18 because the French colonial authorities thought he was more pliable than other claimants. Late in World War II the young king was encouraged by the Japanese to declare Cambodia's independence from France, but as the French moved back into the region he waited until France finally retreated from Indochina in 1954. He founded the Sangkum Reastr Niyum ("People's Socialist Community") in January 1955 and in March abdicated in favour of his father, Norodom Suramarit, and became prime minister, foreign minister, and in 1956 permanent representative to the United Nations. After the death of his father in 1960, he accepted the role of "head of state." In 1970, while on a foreign tour, he was ousted in a U.S.-supported coup led by Gen. Lon Nol. Sihanouk then created a government in exile in Beijing and made allies of the North Vietnamese and the rebel Khmer Rouge army in an effort to regain power. When the Khmer Rouge took over the government in 1975, he returned to Cambodia as nominal head of state, only to be put under house arrest one year later. In 1979 the Khmer Rouge regime fell to Vietnamese military forces. He again went into exile in China. The Vietnamese withdrew in 1989, and in 1991 he was elected president of Cambodia's Supreme National Council, an interim administrative body. Following UN-sponsored elections in May 1993, he was named head of state even though his party finished in third place. In September the National Assembly voted to restore the monarchy, and he once again became king. He abdicated in 2004 because of poor health and his dissatisfaction with the political situation.

Norrie (of Wellington, New Zealand, and of Upton, Gloucestershire), (Charles) Willoughby (Moke) Norrie, (1st) Baron (b. Sept. 26, 1893 - d. May 25, 1977), governor of South Australia (1944-52) and governor-general of New Zealand (1952-57). He was knighted in 1944 and created a baron in August 1957.

Northcote (of Exeter), Henry Stafford Northcote, (1st) Baron (b. Nov. 18, 1846, London, England - d. Sept. 29, 1911, Ashford, Kent, England), governor-general of Australia (1904-08). He entered the British Foreign Office as a clerk in 1868 and, as an aide, went to Washington, D.C., with his father, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote (later Earl of Iddesleigh), who was a member of the commission to settle the Alabama claims (1871-73). In 1876 he went to Constantinople as private secretary to Lord Salisbury. After his return he became private secretary to his father, who was chancellor of the exchequer in 1877-80. He represented Exeter in the House of Commons from 1880 to 1899 and served as financial secretary to the War Office (1885-86) in Salisbury's first government and surveyor-general of ordnance (1886-87) in his second. In 1887, he was created a baronet. He was appointed governor of Bombay in 1899 and, before leaving England (January 1900), was created a baron. The Bombay Presidency was suffering from famine, plague, and an empty exchequer. He tried to improve conditions, sometimes drawing on his own resources when public funds were insufficient. In August 1903 he was appointed governor-general of Australia, and he was sworn in at Sydney in January 1904. In Australia, as in India, he travelled widely. Averaging over 10,000 miles a year by land and sea, he travelled through the greater part of every state and not least through the Northern Territory. His wealth enabled him to entertain generously; he won personal popularity and gave prestige to the office. After his return to England in 1908, he took his seat in the House of Lords and in 1911 bore the standard of Australia at the coronation of George V. He died without issue, and the peerage became extinct.

Norton de Matos, José (Maria) Mendes Ribeiro (b. March 23, 1867, Ponte de Lima, Viana do Castelo district, Portugal - d. Jan. 2, 1955, Ponte de Lima), governor-general (1912-15) and high commissioner (1921-24) of Angola. He was also Portuguese minister of colonies (1915) and war (1915-17) and ambassador to the United Kingdom (1924-26).

Norwood, William Robert (b. May 29, 1909, Seattle, Wash. - d. Sept. 22, 1981), high commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (1966-69).

Novikov, Vladimir (Nikolayevich) (b. Dec. 6 [Nov. 23, O.S.], 1907, Novgorod region, Russia - d. July 21, 2000), chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Soviet Union (1960-62). He was also deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers (1960-62, 1965-80) and chairman of the Supreme Council of National Economy (1965).

A. Novotný

Novotný, Antonín (b. Dec. 10, 1904, Letnany, near Prague, Austria-Hungary [now in Czech Republic] - d. Jan. 28, 1975, Prague, Czechoslovakia), president of Czechoslovakia (1957-68). He joined the Czechoslovak Communist Party in 1921, soon after it was founded, and held various offices in the party organization in Prague. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, he was held in Mauthausen concentration camp from 1941 to 1945. Immediately after the war he resumed his party work and received the appointment as top secretary of the party's regional committee in Prague (1945-51). In 1946 he was also elected to the party's Central Committee, and in February 1948 he took a leading role in the Communist takeover of the Czechoslovak government. He was elected to the Presidium of the Central Committee in 1951 and became first secretary in 1953. After the death of Antonín Zápotocký in 1957, he assumed the presidency of the republic; in 1964 he was reelected to a five-year term. In 1960 he declared that socialism had been achieved in Czechoslovakia and this should also be reflected in the name of the country, which became the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. He continued close cooperation with Moscow, but increasingly had to face criticism from younger party members, who were more nationalistic and less dogmatic; he also had to cope with a continual decline in economic performance. In January 1968 he was forced to resign the party leadership to Alexander Dubcek, then in March Gen. Ludvík Svoboda replaced him as president, and in May his party membership was suspended. It was an indication of his unpopularity that even after the Soviet armed intervention he did not return to any leading position, although his party membership was restored in 1971.

Ntahomvukiye, Séverin (b. Aug. 14, 1944, Gitega, Burundi), foreign minister of Burundi (1998-2001). He was also ambassador to the United States (1995-98).

Ntare

Ntaryamira

Ntare V, personal name Charles Ndizeye (b. Dec. 2, 1947, Gitega, Burundi - d. April 29, 1972, Gitega), king of Burundi (1966). Deposed while on a visit to Congo (Kinshasa), he went into exile in Munich, West Germany, but returned on March 30, 1972. He was immediately placed under house arrest in his former palace of Bwoga, in Gitega. He was killed on April 29, officially during an attempt to escape.

Ntibantunganya, Sylvestre (b. May 8, 1956, Nyamutobo, Gishubi commune, Gitega province, Burundi), foreign minister (1993), president of the National Assembly (1993-94), and president (1994-96) of Burundi. He was ousted in a military coup that brought Pierre Buyoya to power. Ntibantunganya spent 11 months in hiding in the U.S. ambassador's residence and then played a prominent political role as an executive committee member of his party, the pro-Hutu Front for Democracy in Burundi (Frodebu). Frodebu entered a partnership with Buyoya's government in June 1998 that gave the party some cabinet seats for the first time since the coup. Ntibantunganya also represented the party at peace talks aimed at ending Burundi's bitter ethnic civil war. He was expelled from Frodebu in March 1999 after rival leaders accused him of factionalism.

Ntshangase, Abednego (Mandla) (b. May 1, 1954), foreign minister of Swaziland (2001-03). He has also been minister of education (1998-2001) and public service and information (2003) and ambassador to the United States (2010- ).

Ntsiba, Florent (b. Aug. 17, 1949, Lékana, Middle Congo [now Congo (Brazzaville)]), member of the Military Committee of the Congolese Labour Party (1977). He has been minister of information, posts, and telecommunications (1979-83), public works, construction, housing, and urban affairs (1988-89), equipment and environment (1989-91), equipment and public works (1997-2009), and labour and social security (2009- ).

Nu

Nu1 (b. May 25, 1907, Wakema, Burma [now Myanmar] - d. Feb. 14, 1995, Yangon, Myanmar), prime minister of Burma (1948-56, 1957-58, 1960-62). He gained prominence in a student strike in 1936. Joining the We-Burmans Association in 1937, he played an important part in the struggle for independence. He was jailed by the British in 1940 for sedition and was released only after Japan invaded Burma (1942). In 1943 he joined Ba Maw's pro-Japanese government as foreign minister but soon became disillusioned with the Japanese. Following the assassination in 1947 of Aung San, the principal nationalist leader, Nu became head of government and leader of the main political party, the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), and oversaw the transition to independence. He became the first prime minister of independent Burma in 1948, and his party won elections in 1952 and 1956. Nu, a highly respected statesman, was also one of the founders of the Nonaligned Movement in the 1950s. Facing communist and ethnic insurrections and economic stagnation, he failed to exert vigorous governmental authority. In 1958 he resigned in favour of a temporary "caretaker" government headed by Gen. Ne Win. In 1960 parliamentary government was restored, and Nu again became prime minister after an election victory. In 1962, however, Ne Win staged a coup and established a military government. Nu was imprisoned until 1966. In 1969 he left Burma and began organizing a resistance movement, but its operations were unsuccessful. He returned to Burma in 1980 at the invitation of Ne Win. After pro-democracy demonstrations toppled Ne Win in 1988, Nu declared himself head of an alternative provisional government, which did not gain power. He was held under house arrest from December 1989 to April 1992.1 He was known as Thakin ("master") Nu until March 1952, when he dropped that title and became U ("Mr.") Nu.

Nubar

Nubar Pasha, (Boghos), Arabic (Bughus) Nubar Basha, original name Nubar Nubarian (b. July 4, 1824, Smyrna, Ottoman Empire [now Izmir, Turkey] - d. Jan. 14, 1899, Paris, France), prime minister of Egypt (1878-79, 1884-88, 1894-95). Of Armenian descent, he went to Egypt in 1842. He became director of railways in 1858 and took a leading part in the arrangements for the construction of the Suez Canal. The khedive (viceroy) Isma`il Pasha wanted to speed construction of the canal, and Nubar went to Paris in 1863-64 to negotiate with the French government and the canal company a revision of the original contract. In 1865 he was minister of public works and from 1866 foreign minister. His negotiating ability was shown in his eight years of bargaining with the Powers and the Porte which ended in 1876 in the reform of the consular courts and the institution of mixed tribunals to try cases involving Egyptians and Europeans. Under pressure from Britain and France, Isma`il appointed a mixed Egyptian and European ministry in 1878, led by Nubar, who also retained the portfolios of foreign affairs and justice. Isma`il, who saw his authority challenged, dismissed Nubar in 1879, but within months was himself deposed. After the British occupation of Egypt (1882), khedival authority was curtailed while that of the prime minister was increased. Recalled to this post in 1884, Nubar successfully asserted Egyptian control of the ministries of justice and interior, thus helping to establish a dividing line between British and Egyptian authority in Egypt. But when he tried to assert his authority over the provincial police in 1888, Britain secured his dismissal. In 1894 he became prime minister a third time, but ill health and impatience with British tutelage caused his resignation the following year, and he retired to Paris.

Nujoma, Sam(uel Daniel Shafiishuna) (b. May 12, 1929, Etunda village, Ongandjera district, Ovamboland, South West Africa [now Namibia]), president of Namibia (1990-2005). When the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) was formed on April 19, 1960, he was elected its president. After years of fruitlessly petitioning the UN to compel South Africa to comply with the conditions of its trusteeship over the former German colony, SWAPO embarked on an armed struggle in 1966. Its guerrilla force, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), failed to liberate any territory but succeeded in focusing international attention on Namibia. In 1973 the UN General Assembly recognized SWAPO as the sole legitimate representative of the Namibian people, and in 1978 the Security Council adopted Resolution 435, which set out terms for the attainment of Namibian independence under UN supervision. After years of diplomatic jockeying, the resolution was finally accepted by South Africa in December 1988. Nujoma returned to Namibia in September 1989 after nearly 30 years in exile and led SWAPO to victory in the UN-supervised November elections. He was elected president of Namibia by the Constituent Assembly on Feb. 16, 1990, and was sworn in on the day of independence, March 21. He showed a rare ability to command men and maintain control, sometimes by methods that drew criticism from human rights groups. A shrewd politician, he was remarkably free of bitterness and racial prejudice. Although often accused of being a Communist, he was in fact not an ideologue but was more drawn to the pragmatism of Scandinavian democratic socialism. He was reelected in 1994 and 1999, both times with more than 76% of the vote, but did not seek a fourth term. After leaving office in 2005, he remained president of SWAPO.

U. Nujoma

Nujoma, Utoni (Daniel) (b. Sept. 9, 1952, Windhoek, South West Africa [now Namibia]), foreign minister of Namibia (2010-12); son of Sam Nujoma. He has also been minister of justice (2012-15) and land reform (2015- ).

Nukaga

Nukaga, Fukushiro (b. Jan. 11, 1944), Japanese politician. Having earlier been elected to the Ibaraki prefectural assembly, his national political debut came in 1983, when he won election to the lower house. He served as a deputy trade minister and apparently helped pave the way for U.S. acceptance of Japan's massive 16 trillion yen economic package in the spring of 1998 through a visit to the U.S. in January. He became defense minister later that year in the government of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, but resigned in November following a scandal surrounding companies overcharging on defense contracts. Defense Agency officials admitted to receiving, in exchange for reducing the amount of money those companies owed the agency, millions of yen in bribes and promises of cushy jobs in the companies once they retired. The scandal also forced the resignation of then NEC Corp. Chairman Tadahiro Sekimoto. In December 2000 he became state minister for economic and fiscal policy, where he was in charge of the development of Japan's Internet technology infrastructure and increasing the role of elected officials in the formation of the country's budget, a process then largely handled by state bureaucrats. He resigned Jan. 23, 2001, after admitting that he received about $172,000 from KSD, a government-supported, scandal-ridden accident insurance company, while he was a chief deputy cabinet secretary in 1999 and 2000. Nukaga contended, improbably, that the money had been given to his secretary, who squirreled it away in a desk. He said he returned the cash as soon as he found out about it. In 2005-06 he again was defense minister and in 2007-08 finance minister.

Núñez (Moledo), Rafael (Wenceslao) (b. Sept. 28, 1825, Cartagena, New Granada [now in Colombia] - d. Sept. 18, 1894, Cartagena, Colombia), president of Colombia (1880-82, 1884-86, 1887-92, 1892-94). Entering Congress as a Liberal in 1851, he served in the cabinets of several presidents during the long period of Liberal control of Colombia, including as secretary of the treasury (1855-57, 1861-62). In 1863 he was elected to the Convention of Rionegro and helped draft a new, federalist constitution. The same year he left Colombia for Europe, where he held consular posts in Le Havre and Liverpool. As he studied other forms of government and came into contact with political thinkers, he abandoned many of his radical ideas. Returning to Colombia in 1875, he ran for the presidency but lost to Aquileo Parra because the radicals refused to support him. In 1879, with the support of moderates from both the Liberal and Conservative parties, he won his first two-year term as president. Early in his second term, a rebellion of Liberals - who stood for decentralization and anticlericalism - forced him further into an alliance with the Conservatives. After putting down civil war in 1884-85, he became the leader of the National Party, a coalition of moderate Liberals and Conservatives. The constitution of 1886, which embodied the principle of centralized government, solidified his regime and inaugurated 50 years of Conservative dominance. As part of a series of reforms called the Regeneration, he restored the power of the Roman Catholic church. His stringent measures against the press and banishment of many opposition leaders caused much discontent. During his third and fourth term his regime was generally administered by deputies in Bogotá while he ruled from his plantation at Cartagena.

Nuri Pasha as-Said, Arabic Nuri Basha al-Sa`id (b. 1888, Baghdad, Ottoman Empire [now in Iraq] - d. July 15, 1958, Baghdad, Iraq), prime minister of Iraq (1930-32, 1938-40, 1941-44, 1946-47, 1949, 1950-52, 1954-57, 1958); brother-in-law of Jaafar al-Askari. He was commissioned in the Turkish army in 1909, when Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1913 he helped to found the Arab secret society El-Ahd (The Covenant). During World War I he participated in Ottoman military operations against the British, but was soon captured by the British, who in 1916 helped him to join the Sharifian Arab army led by Faysal ibn Hussein in its revolt against Ottoman rule in the Hejaz. A devoted supporter throughout Faysal's rule in Syria (1920), he followed him to his throne in Iraq in 1921. Nuri was minister of defense in six cabinets, six times foreign minister, and in 1930 first became prime minister - a post which he held eight times. He stood for a cordial relationship with Britain, not least during World War II, when he was opposed by influential army officers who in 1941 supported a coup under the leadership of Rashid Ali. Nuri fled into exile, but the British defeated Rashid Ali's government in open warfare and Nuri returned. In 1955, he led Iraq into the U.S.-sponsored Baghdad Pact, a mutual security agreement of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Great Britain, which lost him popularity. After he sponsored an Arab union with Jordan in February 1958 (Jordan was also closely allied with the West), Iraqi army units, under the leadership of Abdul Karim Kassem, overthrew the monarchy on July 14. Nuri took refuge in the home of a friend, but was recognized the following day; he was killed and his body was dismembered by the populace.

Nyachae, Simeon (b. Feb. 6, 1932, Nyaribari, Nyanza province, Kenya), finance minister of Kenya (1998-99). Having earlier served as minister of agriculture (1993-97), he steadily won the respect of the financial markets and the international donor community, as well as ordinary Kenyans, after his appointment as finance minister in early 1998. He was also leading a bid to restore a suspended International Monetary Fund loan. But his effort to get a grip on the government's chaotic finances and stamp out rampant official corruption finally cost him his job. Pres. Daniel arap Moi demoted him in 1999, but the widely-respected minister hit back and said the move was designed to block his drive against corruption. Nyachae said his drive to reform Kenya's tax collection agency and his decision to publish a list of powerful figures who owed large sums to the country's banks made him "many enemies in influential places in the public and private sectors." He said, "Doing what was necessary in the interests of the country was a bitter pill to many people who benefit from corruption and financial indiscipline in the public sector." He resigned from the government, refusing to take up the post of industrial development minister that was offered him in the cabinet reshuffle.

Nyerere, Julius (Kambarage) (b. April 13, 1922, Butiama village, Musoma district, Tanganyika [now in Tanzania] - d. Oct. 14, 1999, London, England), president of Tanganyika (1962-64) and Tanzania (1964-85). Born Kambarage Nyerere, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1943 and adopted Julius as his baptismal name. He joined the Tanganyika African Association, a moribund organization of African civil servants, became its president in 1953, and on July 7, 1954, converted it into the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), a lively political organization which espoused peaceful change, social equality, and racial harmony and rejected tribalism. When Tanganyika gained responsible self-government in 1960, he became chief minister. He became prime minister in May 1961, and in December 1961 Tanganyika gained complete independence. He resigned in January 1962, declaring that he wished to devote himself to strengthening TANU, but in November he was elected the country's first president. He chose to be known by the honorific title of Mwalimu, a Swahili word meaning teacher. In 1964 Tanganyika united with Zanzibar and he became president of the United Republic of Tanzania. He was reelected (as the only candidate) in 1965, 1970, 1975, and 1980 before he voluntarily stepped down in 1985, one of few African leaders to do so. He remained head of the country's only political party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (formed by the 1977 merger of TANU and the Afro-Shirazi Party of Zanzibar), until 1990. He was also one of the founders in 1963 of the Organization of African Unity (and its chairman in 1984-85). In his last years he continued to play an important role in Tanzanian affairs and regional politics; his last mission was to mediate peace talks aimed at ending civil war in Burundi.

Nyers, Rezsö (b. March 21, 1923, Budapest, Hungary), finance minister of Hungary (1960-62) and president of the Hungarian Socialist Party (1989-90). He was also minister of the food industry (1956).

Nygaardsvold

Nygaardsvold, Johan (b. Sept. 6, 1879, Hommelvik, Norway - d. March 13, 1952, Trondheim, Norway), prime minister of Norway (1935-45). He was also minister of agriculture (1928) and president of the Storting (1934-35).

Nzo, Alfred (Baphethuxolo) (b. June 19, 1925, Benoni, Transvaal [now in Gauteng], South Africa - d. Jan. 13, 2000, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa), foreign minister of South Africa (1994-99). He was a member of the generation that became politically involved in the 1940s and began the active struggle against apartheid. Like Nelson Mandela and others, he was repeatedly arrested and detained. Nzo went into exile in 1964, and went on to serve as African National Congress (ANC) representative in Egypt, India, and Tanzania. Nzo was ANC secretary-general from 1969 to 1991, which gave him day-to-day responsibility for the movement's operations. Following Mandela's release from prison in 1990, Nzo served on an ANC delegation that undertook talks with the National Party government. Nzo joined President Mandela's cabinet after the 1994 all-race elections that ended white minority rule, becoming the country's first black foreign minister. He kept a low profile during his tenure as foreign minister, and was seen by critics as less influential than Thabo Mbeki, who as vice president was said to be the driving force in foreign policy. He was replaced after Mbeki was elected president in 1999, and retired from an active role in politics.